Category Archives: Bible Study

One of the things I have been doing for a few years now is to read the Bible each year. There are many different reading plans designed to help you do this. You can even buy Bibles that are set up as daily readings (Bibles in a year.)

Some of these plans go from the beginning to the end. Some have a little bit of Old Testament, a Psalm, and some New Testament each day (Reading plan.) I found either plan to be an issue for me. Continuity was a problem with the mixed reading style, especially if I was travelling and wanted to read on my Kobo. The biggest issue, though, was that they all had a suggested reading for every day and I found I felt guilty if I missed a day and then there was the added pressure of trying to catch up. I don’t think this is meant to be the spirit with which we are meant to approach God’s word.

This year I decided to try my own way. I am into bullet journaling and use a dot grid book. First aI looked up the number of chapters in the Bible. I figured that if I read about three chapters/day I would finish in the year. The Old Testament was just a few chapters fewer than the squares on one page. I found a picture online which I liked and traced it onto one page. Then I marked the rest of the chapters on the next page. The plan was to just read and colour in the number of boxes/chapters I had read the night before.

And so I began.
As the days went by, some days I would read three chapters and stop. Some nights where one chapter was particularly long, or I was super tired at night, I might just read one or two. On some, I was so caught up in what I was reading that I found I had read four or more chapters. The key for me was not worrying about reading “enough.” I noted the chapters on my phone each night when I out the Bible down and then again the next night.

What did I find with this? I looked forward to reading and it became second nature to reach for the Bible each night. Being a bit of a visual learner,it was great to be able to just look at the page to see my progress without dates or guilt. It is now the last day of August and I am into the prophets. I don’t know how I will approach it next year, but I really like this plan! If you think this would work for you Inencourage you to give it a try.

I follow a reading plan through which, in 365 days, one reads the whole Bible. Most days there are 2-6 chapters to read each day. One day in June I came to a day that had only 1 chapter to read. Twelve columns later I had read the entire 119th Psalm in one sitting. The next day I looked for more information on the Psalm and read that it was intended to be read, like a devotional book in our day, rather than sung or recited. I continued thinking about this, the longest psalm, for days, weeks. I started thinking about the fact that we only ever encounter short sections of 119 in the lectionary cycle, and wondered how to include it all in one, or a series of services. So here we are!

This Psalm is different from other Psalms, not only because of its length, but because it was most likely written out rather than developed orally, and its focus is not on God’s acts and his rule over the world, but rather on his word or the Torah. This Psalm is a highly structured piece of poetry. There are 176 verses, 22 strophes or stanzas, each of which could stand alone with no problem! The whole thing is an acrostic with each section beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I bet we have all been asked to write an acrostic poem at some point in our school years. “Write your name down a page and then have each line start with that letter.”

Every line of this poem has essentially the same message. How many of you have heard, or said, “You call that music!?! They just keep saying the same words over and over!” Much as people may complain over hearing the same thing over and over again, repetition is not always a bad thing. Think of music. Composers work hard to keep a balance between repetitions, essential in order to hold the piece together as a single unit, and contrast to give variety. The first movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is based entirely on one short rhythmic pattern and one interval; three eight notes and a half note, and a descending major third. It holds together so well, in fact, that even people with little or no music training could respond to the first pattern with the next.

With all 176 verses saying basically the same thing, the repetition is well in hand. So where does the psalmist provide variety? First with vocabulary. In the Hebrew there are eight central words (seven when translated to English) used throughout the Psalm to give subtle tweak to the meaning of the one word, Torah, which could have been used in all cases. There are two different Hebrew words that translate as word, and then law, judgments, testimonies, commandments, statutes, and precepts. Rather than tell of God’s mighty acts, these highlight two aspects of God’s word, his directives for our lives, and his promises to us.

Second, variety comes from the form of each statement. Within this one Psalm you can find examples of all the types of Psalms; individual prayers for help, “94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts,” petitions, “116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope,” expressions of ones troubles, “95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your decrees,” assertions of trust, “103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” and vows of praise, “175 Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me.”

In the Interpretation Series book Psalms, James L. Mays lists four key points about the psalmist’s single-minded focus on God’s word. The first is that “God’s instruction is important because it is God’s.” This is a fairly simple statement. Having already read all the other Psalms which talk of God’s power in creation, in redeeming his people time and again, and in his rule over all the nations, readers of this Psalm should be ready to consider God’s word first in everything. The fact that he had to continually redeem his people is testimony to the fact that people did not, in fact, put it first but got caught up in the words of man, in the statutes put in place by human rulers and the tempting statements of believers in other gods. The Psalmist knows well that God’s word is most important, and yet throughout 119 we read that even he struggled with this. Pick a random verse after verse 8 from this Psalm and find the word used for Torah. What word goes with it? These nouns are always prefaced with the word, “his,” or “your” in order to maintain the readers focus on God. In the introduction and conclusion sections it says things like, “the law of the Lord,” or, “his statutes.” He never said our laws, or the laws, or the commandments.

May’s second point is that “The word of God requires obedience and faith and does not accept legalism.” Obedience is not a strong suit for many of us, and we know that we will fail in being completely obedient, but God’s word calls us to obey anyway. With respect to legalism, it is all too easy to lose focus on God himself and start watching out for any little infraction to his law in order to judge and punish the person responsible. This became so prevalent that perhaps it is why, long after this Psalm was written, Jesus simplified things into the New Commandment, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34). Only God is to judge.

The third point is that, “God’s word is given but never possessed; we need to seek and study constantly and pray for teaching and learning.” So we read the Bible, at least in worship, and before we do so we ask that he reveal his message to us, that he use the word to teach us and that he help us to learn. I think of a part of Tevye’s song from Fiddler on the Roof, “If I were a rich man…If I were rich I’d have the time that I lack to shit in the synagogue and pray. Maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall. And I’d discuss the Holy books with the learned men seven hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all!” The usual connotation of the word rules would be of limits on freedom and on punishment. But, like Tevye, the writer of Psalm 119 clearly did not see the Torah as an onerous duty, but as a source of delight.

“92 If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my misery.93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.

May’s fourth point is that, “The word comes from God, but must become a part of us, it requires a conversion of the heart.” This Psalm itself is an example to us of what that means. “The author had a theme that filled his soul, a theme as big as life, which ranged the length and breadth and height and depth of a person’s walk with God.”(John H. Stek) And so his Psalm is not some arbitrary exercise in acrostic poetry but a pouring out of his heart. It is not a lifeless, repetitive annoyingly long reading, unless we make it so.

By the end of the service today we will have heard, read, or sung, not quite the whole Psalm, but at least a part of every strophe. Remember that God’s word is important, that much is required of us, that we need to study and reflect on it, and that we need to allow it to seep in and become embedded in our hearts, a part of us.

Think back to your own baptism if they were old enough at the time to remember it, or the last baptism you witnessed to. If you have not been baptized, fear not and read on.

The other day I attended the Presbytery workshop based on the book Your Church Can Thrive by Harold Percy. I was glad to be attending but it didn’t occur to me that I would be finding anything in that time which would find its way into my message for the next day, but there it was. One of the first major points Percy made was that it is important, before getting to how to make change, to ask why we do what we do. So that is what came to church with me this morning.

First, we ask, why?

Why was Jesus baptized? Really, think about it? Had he sinned? We baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is the Son so it doesn’t really seem like he should need to be baptized. On one hand, the answer to this one is simple, he didn’t need to be baptized but he chose to be baptized! Christian writers over the years have been uncomfortable with the idea of the divine being baptized. In the 2nd century Ignatius stated that he was already pure and so the purpose was to purify the water. Justin Martyr explained that he was baptized “for the sake of humanity.” One might also say that it was a symbol or affirmation of his true humanity.

Why do we baptize? According to Living Faith we baptize as a sign and seal of our union with Christ and with his church. Through it we share in the death and resurrection of Christ and are commissioned to his service.

Secondly, we ask, what?

What was baptism in Jesus’ time? In the Old Testament immersion had been a form of returning to ritual cleanliness. In the New Testament, John announced “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” or purification of the body after the soul was cleansed by righteousness. Before immersion in a river John required prior repentance and performance of good deeds. In Jesus’ day baptism was a radical, counter-cultural act. Luke highlights this with his mention of the fact that Herod was made so nervous by John baptizing people in the Jordan, and people questioning whether John may be the Messiah, that after John called him out on his marriage to Herodius he had him arrested, imprisoned and eventually killed.

Jesus was already an adult when he went to the river where John was baptizing. Since it was just a couple weeks ago that we celebrated the birth of a baby in Bethlehem, it is sometimes hard to remember that there was no cute little white dress, or white suit, candles and Godparents.

Jesus’ baptism was public but with no big hoopla or special notice. In Luke’s account it is just slipped in. John explains to the people there that he is neither worthy to unlace the Messiah’s sandals, nor able to baptize with anything but water; while the one who was coming would baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. The actual “story” of the baptism is no more than one line stating that the people and Jesus had been baptized and then it jumps to an undetermined time later when Jesus was praying. It is at this point that heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” We are given no indication that anyone other than Jesus himself is witness to these signs and statements.

What is baptism in the Presbyterian Church in Canada? Baptism is one of the two sacraments of the Presbyterian Church. Living Faith 7.6.3 “By the power of the Holy Spirit God acts through Baptism. It is the sacrament not of what we do but of what God has done for us in Christ. God’s grace and our response to it are not tied to the moment of Baptism, but continue and deepen throughout life. It is a sacrament meant for those who profess their faith and for their children. Together we are the family of God. 7.6.5 Baptism assures us that we belong to God. In life and in death our greatest comfort is that we belong to our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.”

Lastly, we ask, how?

How do we decide to be baptized? As Christian parents people make the decision to raise their children in the church and the first step in that is to have them baptized. One PCC document says that, “When people seek baptism later in life, it means that the Holy Spirit, as a guide and friend, has moved them to claim the grace and love of God in Christ, and faith in a new way. It is a courageous action.”

How are we baptized? Living Faith 7.6.2 “In Baptism, water is administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The water signifies the washing away of sin, the start of new life in Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

How are we meant to live out our baptisms? 7.6.4 “Baptism is also an act of discipleship that requires commitment and looks towards growth in Christ. Those baptized in infancy are called in later years to make personal profession of Christ. What is born may die. What is grafted may wither. Congregations and those baptized must strive to nurture life in Christ.”

We begin when the Holy Spirit ignites a passion in us. We seek to discern our vocations, we seek to grow in our knowledge and understanding of the ways of Jesus, and we attempt to live in such a way that people see Christ in our lives.

The thing with seeking to answer the big questions is that more often than not we are left with a whole list of new questions. This can be very frustrating, especially if we want to leap right into the action phase of a project. Remember that we are not alone. We have our church family and most importantly we have God. Jesus said he would always be with us through the Holy Spirit. We can continue to have conversations with others and it is vital that we continue the conversation with God in prayer. When we face the next question in living out our baptisms go back to the beginning, start with why and listen for God’s answer.

Your Church Can Thrive: Making the Connections that build healthy congregations by Harold Percy, Abingdon Press 2003

Living Faith -https://www.google.com/url?q=http://presbyterian.ca/resources-od/&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjuiavu-Z_KAhUkUKYKHX1TCjQQFggEMAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNFxxynHAbwDAa92okqQqlWM4Kj4SQ

I am currently living with my sister for a couple of months and I decided to bring my dog along with me. (he is the little one on the left) It has been interesting watching as they learn to interact with each other as well as with my sister and me.

One of the more interesting things is their figuring out to whom they should be listening. When I tell Coda it is ok to go ahead and eat Shani takes it as her permission as well etc. Today I was listening from upstairs as my sister did a little training session with the two of them together. At one point she was trying to get Coda to learn to play dead at the same time as having her dog practice. It was quite entertaining and I could picture in my head as one would be just about to be rewarded and the other (mostly Coda) would pop up. My sister told me that one time she called for Coda to do position (between her legs) and Coda started towards her and she looked down and discovered Shani there instead.

This all got me thinking about our struggle to remain obedient and faithful to God. ” ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matt 6:24) Not to imply that we are dogs, but I believe we are in exactly the same quandary as our two little dogs. Which one are we supposed to listen to when one is saying “stay” and the other is calling “come”? For the dogs I suspect there is a combination of inclination to follow the one they know the best but often overtaken by the one most likely to give them a treat.

In our society almost everyone in the commercial world is offering treats of one kind or another; fancy car, softer/firmer skin, guaranteed weight loss, popularity etc. Even if falsely advertised, the rewards of our world are right there in front of us. They are visible and we see other people who have them and wish we could as well. Those rewards are lacking though. They do not include a deeper bond with anybody, they don’t involve a greater understanding of self.

God is the one we know the best as well as the one who has given and offers the best reward. The problem is that the gifts are neither visible nor tangible. While the gift of new life is already given, it is only immediately present if we are choosing to live it. God’s call is more subtle, quieter, and easily drowned out by the others clamoring for our attention but we need to listen more closely and stay when he says stay, or go when he says to go.

Word of mouth

My family and I have a bathroom renovation project underway and when I was looking for someone to do the work I did as I usually do and asked Dad. After that I asked my friends on Face Book for their opinions of and experiences with different contractors. Similarly, when our washer died I put out a request for comments on top load washers versus front load models. In fact on any given day you can find requests for advice on road conditions, where to go to get things, and whether or not a movie is worth seeing. None of these things are likely to change our lives but are examples which show that we place greater value on the experience and opinion of our friends than on the advertisements which would have us believe that every product is better than all the other products which in-turn are also better… So what about spiritual questions, things that will change our lives? What would you seek and whom would you follow?

In our Gospel reading today John must have been ‘wired for sound’! He had just experienced what he knew was the highest point of his ministry, he had fulfilled his destiny. It was not his own accomplishment, it wasn’t that he would be thinking what a great job he had done, but it was still a great day. If it had happened today he might immediately get out his cell phone and tweet something like, “Best day of my life, baptized Son of God, heard God’s voice and saw the spirit, time to retire, can die happy!”

In the other Gospels this is where the baptism story ended and they moved away from the Baptist and the area around the Jordan, one immediately, to the temptation of Christ and the beginning of his ministry. John chose instead to continue the narrative of Baptist’s activities. In a sense the author gave him time to tweet and for people to respond to his news. While the other Gospels gradually reveal Jesus’ identity, John front loads the story with details of Jesus’ true identity. In very short order he identifies Christ by several of the titles which had been ascribed to him by the church over the years; Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, and Messiah.

Last week we read of the baptism itself and today, the actual baptism itself is not narrated in John, we take up the story on the next day. John the Baptist saw Jesus and told all who are in the area just what had happened and how important this man was! In a tradition in which sacrifices were made for thanksgiving, for atonement of sin, etc. it would have caught people’s attention when the Baptist referred to Christ as, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” It may have brought out memories of the Passover lamb whose death and the painting of its blood protected the people in Egypt. For us, and indeed for the early readers of John’s gospel, this speaks to his crucifixion and resurrection, his atonement for the sins of the whole world. At the time of the Baptist, however, it may have brought to mind Abraham who said God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. At the least it would have indicated his purity but oddly would also carry a picture of weakness; important because of the role of the unblemished lamb in sacrifice, but weak because a lamb is helpless to defend itself from death on the altar.

The Baptist had been out in the wilderness preaching and calling people to repentance, but never taking credit or making himself out to be important. In John’s gospel this event followed a scene in which the Baptist was questioned by religious authorities. He had denied being Elijah, being The Prophet (Moses), and being the Messiah. He had in fact always been saying, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” He had never made much of himself but pointed ahead to that man. He explained that he had been baptizing with water in order to reveal the man to Israel. He related the sight of the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remaining on Jesus, and that God had told them this would be the sign of the man who was coming. He made a statement worthy of a court trial, “I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

It is likely that most people who heard him talking about Jesus considered it to be at least a bit far-fetched and perhaps attributed it to John’s strange ways. “After all, he lives way out here away from people and doesn’t eat properly, he was probably delirious with hunger, or maybe he is going mad. A spirit came and settled on a man and this is the big news? Hardly!”

The next day, then two days after Christ’s baptism, two of the Baptist’s followers were there when again he saw Jesus. Again he identified Jesus and he testified that he was the Lamb of God. These two men then left John, up until now their spiritual leader, and followed Jesus. Jesus asked them what they were seeking and told them to come and see. Before he had taught them anything they called him Rabbi which means teacher. They went to where he was staying and spent the day with him. Only one of the two is named in this account, Andrew the brother of the man known to us as Simon Peter. Andrew ran off to find his brother and passed on the exciting news, “We have found the Messiah.” When they got back Jesus identified him by name and says he will be called Cephas’ or Peter.

So following the line of information

God tells John of his mission

God tells John how to recognize the one to come after

John witnesses the sign Lamb of God

John tells all who are around Lamb of God

John repeats this to two of his followers Son of God

One of the followers, Andrew, goes to tell his brother Messiah

If we were to continue this line it would lead us all the way to this place and thousands like it where the Word is being proclaimed today.

The three readings I chose to use this morning are very different in form, the Psalm being a poem or song, 1 Corinthians being a letter, and John being a story. They are all about saving help, God’s faithfulness, Christ’s salvation, steadfast love, mercy, and evangelism.

In the Psalm we read a song of thanksgiving for deliverance from dire personal circumstances as well as the pattern of God’s works of salvation for the people of Israel over the ages. The author does what most of us would do after being rescued; he gives thanks and praises his deliverer. He doesn’t do this in private, but in the congregation, he tells everyone! In the 11 verses we read we go back and forth between the personal story and praise to God for his faithfulness, and the communal stories of the past and expectations of the future. The other feature of the Psalm is that it expresses God’s desire for a relationship with us rather than sacrifices. God doesn’t want the rites of religion, he wants our seeking and having his laws written on our heart.

Much of the writing of Paul that is included in the Christian cannon is in the form of letters. There was a very ordered format for letters in his time and he certainly followed it. First you introduce yourself, then identify the recipient, give thanks, and then you move on to the content. Our reading this morning was the introduction to a much longer letter which would address some pretty major issues with the church in Corinth. Without reading further, however, one would be unlikely to realize there was any problem or concern. The focus here was on their unity in that they were all called by Christ, that they were all empowered by the Spirit, that they all shared the same testimony to the grace of Christ and the faithfulness and steadfastness of God. Paul gives thanks for the congregation which was equipped with the tools they needed to continue this testimony, to pass on the word.

So, we have established that word-of-mouth is the most effective way of getting information out to people. Given this it is hard to imagine why do we rely so heavily on the Bible itself to get the Christian message out? How can we offer Christ and invite people to come and see what a life of following Jesus might be like. (Daniel Ogel…GBod)?

People are only willing to inquire about faith and follow if they are themselves open to it. It is spiritual hunger which compels people to search for new possibilities. It is their dissatisfaction with where they are in their lives and in their spiritual life which forces them to go in search of something new.(Daniel Ogel, GBod.com0 John the Baptist pointed the way to Jesus, “don’t focus on me or the trappings of the church or liturgy, look to Jesus himself and be open to a relationship with him. Jesus invited the first two disciples to, “come and see” where he was staying, to actually walk in his ways. Both of these approaches to seekers are models of evangelism. “Instead of beating people over the head or intimidating them to confess their faith, John and Jesus point to what God is doing and invite people to check it out. It’s a pretty compelling strategy for faith-sharing and evangelism.”(Daniel Ogel, GBod.com) and far less awkward than starting a conversation with a person by asking them if they know Jesus, or if they are a Christian and then launching into a “sales campaign.”

So, what did you post on Face Book this morning before leaving for church? Did you post that you were going to church? Great! When we share our lives as Christians with people, just as that, our lives, we open a door. If we get out the bat, quote scripture and tell people how they should live and what they should believe, we are more likely to scare them away. What will you post later in the day? Whether we have good days or bad what people will notice is our patience and hopefulness in God and maybe that will be enough to make them ask where we get that patience and hopefulness and then we can invite them to come and see.

The readings for this sermon were; 1 Cor 1:1-9, Psalm 40:1-11, John 1:19-42

As you read the following verses from 1st Proverbs, think about the last time you wanted to find something out. Did you go to Google or another search engine? We seek information, but that is not the same as wisdom. According to this poem in Proverbs, wisdom is actually out there actively looking out for us, to lead us in the direction of life. Sadly, we often hide away from wisdom and our foolishness leads us into trouble, sometimes even to death.

The Call of Wisdom

20 Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.21 At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:22 ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?23 Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.24 Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,25 and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,27 when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,30 would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.32 For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;33 but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.’

Proverbial parenting?

Straight out of the Ten Commandments, after putting the Lord your God first, having no idols, and remembering the Sabbath, we read, “Honour thy father and thy mother.”(Ex 20:12)

Proverbs 8 Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching; 9 for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

At first glance, of course, one may take the father’s teaching to be from God, but as it is paired with mother’s teaching it becomes clear that this refers to human parents. Imagine that! Listen to the teaching of your parents without rejecting it, wear it on your head and carry it on yourself like a pendant.

Please note, it doesn’t say anything about carrying a chain around your neck or shackles on your feet! Wisdom, and learning are not meant to weigh us down but to lift us up. To ornament or brighten us.

Fear the Lord. What? We are supposed to be afraid of God? What happened to the whole God of love thing?

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (NRSV)

On the surface of this statement it means that nobody who doesn’t at the very least believe in God can be wise. They would be fools who aren’t even interested in learning. This has always been a difficult phrase for me.

In Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message//Remix it is paraphrased as; Proverbs 1:7 Start with God – the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning

One of the ways of interpreting the meaning of things like, “fear of the Lord” in the Old Testament is by looking at what the author uses as comparison. On one hand we have a person who fears the Lord while on the other we have fools who don’t even desire to learn or become wise. Fear of the lord or love of evil seem to be one of the opposites they are talking about. Fear of the Lord is humility and its opposite is pride and arrogance.

The proverbial statement is about fear of the Lord, not about cowering in the corner waiting for a lightning strike, but being in awe enough of the Lord to try to learn everything we can about him and from him.

One of the things frequently heard in my house growing up was, “the proverbial”, as in “the proverbial silver lining!” The other day I got thinking about how many of the sayings we use in society are, in fact, from the Book of Proverbs and not just local lore.

It is the readings which are included in Sunday worship throughout the year that we hear interpreted and spend time considering. In a quick scan of the lectionary readings for years A,B and C I found only five Sundays on which one of the optional reading was from Proverbs. There are none in year A, three in year B, and two in year C.

So I have decided to go through Proverbs and reflect on some of the items in light of our world situation in 2013.

To begin we have the opening comments;

1The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

Prologue

For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young— let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.

A little unpacking. From reading the introductory remarks from the book one would be hard pressed to make any case for this not being important content. There is nothing to look down on in; wisdom, understanding, insight, justice, equity, shrewdness, knowledge and prudence. And yet we rarely hear of people spending lot of time reading and reflecting upon Proverbs.

While the intent is positive, I think most of us view it, at best, as a well meaning lecture from our elders, and at worst, the cynical views of a few people who had everything. At the risk of being proverbial, there is a sense that the people who were the source of these sayings should get off their high horses!

Let’s open our minds for the next while and see what Proverbs has to share with us…

Until the end of last week I was, along with all my other things, involved in taking a seminary course on the book of Matthew. Over the school year to date I have taken two online courses, one an introduction to theology and this one on interpreting the New Testament. The thing that became most clear is that I know less now than I did before!

How can this be, and why bring it up now?It occurred to me that people reading my blog may at times mistake me for a person who “knows what she’s talking about.” In actual fact, while I do know what I have read, heard, learned, and the nature of my thoughts and reflections, I don’t have any previously untapped source of wisdom. I am not an expert! Hence the warning, Caution! The writer of this blog likely knows less than you do!

Throughout my courses this year, while working on essays on such weighty topics as Universal Salvation and Matthew’s Theology on Women, I spent a lot of time reading, reflecting and looking for the answers. Inevitably what I found would be a series of possible approaches, the realization that the topic was too broad for a three page essay, and most of all more questions. Unlike nice tidy questions like, “where is the Great Pyramid located?” the questions of faith are not to be answered with a correct or incorrect answer. There is no ‘knowing’ only reasoning, reflecting, and believing.

So, as I pick up my ‘pen’ again it is with greater trepidation than before that I’m likely to get things wrong. I can’t help but wonder if by the time I am ready for ordination I will still be able to put pen to paper at all.